Behaviorism as the Study of Observable Behavior - Assignment Example

The field of psychology took a dramatic turn with the rise of claims presented by behaviorists in the early twentieth century. They rejected the concepts of the conscious and unconscious mind and emphasized merely the observable behavior. The claims about behaviorism rose with the work of Ivan Pavlov, the Russian psychologist, who studied classical conditioning by experimenting on dogs. The phenomenon of classical conditioning can be used in the training of pets, as well as humans. In contrast to operant conditioning, which deals with strengthening or weakening voluntary behavior, classical conditioning deals with the modification of involuntary behavior (Watson, as cited in Arkin, 1998, p.45). Classical conditioning should be widely used by teachers to condition the responses of students in such a way that they find a way to deal with every stressful situation in a perfect manner. We can say this because classical conditioning helps study human behavior without connecting introspection to subjective experience (Friedman & Schustack, 2008, p.207). Hence, teachers can modify their students’ responses under controlled conditions.

Discussion 2

            This discussion is based on positive and negative reinforcement, and how both of these ideas can be used to make a person behave a certain way. Positive reinforcement, in operant conditioning, is a motivational technique that encourages positive behavior by way of a positive outcome. When a certain action is followed by a reward, a gift, a surprise, an encouraging comment, or positive feedback, it results in the encouragement of the person, which makes him repeat his good action again and again. When a parent tells his child that, if he comes back from school with full marks in his class test, he will be allowed to go over to a friend's place to watch a movie, this anticipated reward makes him perform at his best. This is the best motivational technique that a parent can use because it is natural for children to behave in a certain way when their behavior is appreciated with a reward. Negative reinforcement is the term coined by B.F. Skinner, negative reinforcement is a kind of motivational technique that aims at the repetition of a certain behavior, by the removal of aversive stimuli. An aversive stimulus is some sort of physical or mental discomfort. A response or behavior is strengthened when an individual knows that he will escape a negative outcome. For example, Sam’s mother has always told him to clean up the mess in his room before he leaves for school. She has, at times, yelled at him when he left his room untidy. So, he knows that he has to clean up his room in order to escape the anger of his mother. In this example, Sam’s mom’s anger was the negative reinforcement or the negative outcome, which he avoided by correct his behavior.